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This Was the Year…..

That at some point, both children warmed up to the guy in red.

That I got over my fear of making sugar cookies.

That we trekked out on a snowy day to cut down our own Christmas tree.

That we made most of our Christmas ornaments (many with applesauce & cinnamon).

That both kids really like playing the snow, wherever we were.

That MaM was geeked to help with stamping the Christmas cards and wrapping gifts. She also got into hiding gifts for her dad and brother. “They’re in my dresser drawer, Mommy, because they won’t look there.”

This was the year…

That MaM explained Christmas to Junior through song, quoting “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” almost daily as Christmas approached.

That Junior became obsessed with The Grinch, and “his green hands!”

That we watched The Wizard of Oz together during a cold snowy night during the week before Christmas.

That I showed MaM what my Little People Dollhouse looked like when I was a girl, via gingerbread (part of this year’s display at Conner Prairie).

That we played in Jolly Days, and Celebration Crossing.

That MaM discovered Cole Porter during her “Mom and Dad” day during the week before Christmas.

That MaM got dressed up as an angel for the 4:30 Children’s Mass.

That the four of us took a second to take a family photo (we don’t do that often enough….perhaps a goal for 2011 in the making…).

Ah, it’s been a good long run, this Christmas Season.

Merry Christmas (a few days late) and Happy New Year,  Friends!

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The Best Gift I’ve Ever Given

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When I saw the call to think back the the best gift I’ve ever given, I knew right away what I would write about. Just last month, BgK turned 40. He walked a marathon, had a luncheon, a family dinner, a family party and a lovely dinner at Navy Pier with me to celebrate. You might think that all of the celebrating might have overshadowed the gifts. It didn’t.

For years now, BgK has been getting me baubles and pretties at a jewelry store the kids call “the Pink Tower”. This year, for his 40th birthday, I decided that it was his turn to get present from the Pink Tower. He likes to wear a ring on his right hand, and the one that I got him years ago was getting worn and bent.

I picked out a manly celtic knot ring, and the salesman wrapped it up in their signature box and bag. When we went out for our family dinner, I kept the package hidden until we’d ordered. MaM was bursting to give him the dish she’d painted (to hold his rings), and he opened that first. He was delighted with her offering, and even took his rings off to see how they would fit.

Then I presented him with the box from “the Pink Tower”. It was kind of like one of those cheesy jewelry store commercials, he was shocked and excited at the same time. The ring wasn’t the right size, his size wasn’t in stock. It didn’t matter, he looked and admired and jumped out of his seat to give me a hug and a kiss. And for the rest of the evening, and the rest of the weekend, he randomly thanked me.

I knew he liked it, but I was watching to see what would happen next. He needed to get the ring sized, and I figured that would be the test of whether or not he really liked it. If the ring sat there for weeks, without getting sized, well then, so be it.

Monday night, which was the first chance he had to get to the jewelry store, and he went straight there.

The ring came in a week later, and he now wears it every day.

SCORE.

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O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

So far, our Advent plan has been working beautifully. The planned out rings have helped me pace things out a bit, and the kids are excited to pull down a new ring each day. And since all of the activities are in my google calendar, when things need to change, I can deftly switch out the ring and replace it with an updated one.

Nearly two weeks ago (this post has sat in drafts for awhile) trekked out to a Christmas tree farm to get our tree. It should have been idyllic and picturesque. It was snowing, and well, we were at a Christmas tree farm for heaven’s sake. It wasn’t, however, cold enough for the ground to be frozen. So while the snow was covering the ground, the ground was actually very soft and mucky. It also turned out that Jr is not a fan of walking in the snow. And we couldn’t find the wagon that was transporting groups to their desired tree patch. Nor did we know to grab a map to figure out which tree patch we wanted to explore to begin with.

In the end though, we came home with a tree.

And it’s perfect.

Is your tree real or artifical??